The Greatest All-Star Sneaker — Ever

In lieu of this year’s All-Star weekend approaching, I took it upon myself to write this article on what I consider to be the best All-Star sneaker ever to release – EVER. Now of course this is an extremely bold statement, and I may be a little biased (because this is one of my favourite shoes), but hear me out…

The shoe came out in 2012. It released alongside an array of other ‘galaxy’ themed sneakers from the Nike Basketball and Nike Sportswear lines. But this shoe in particular holds infinitely higher merit than the rest of this pack, as well as any other All-Star release.

Lets take it back to December 2011, when the Concord 11’s released for the first time since the year 2000. This shoe was so well-received that preorders at Foot Locker (yeah those used to be a thing) sold out within two days. The Concord release was the unofficial return of sneakerheadism. People hadn’t gone bonkers for a sneaker in a long, long time, and people flipped sh*t over the Concords.

Fast forward two months to February 2012. Fresh off the buzz of the Concords, Nike reveals the “Galaxy Pack” for All-Star weekend; highlighted by none other than the Air Foamposite One. Hype had already been building in the sneakerhead world, and Foams were on the upswing after several successful colourways releasing in 2011. But no one had ever seen a foam dressed in an all-over print quite like the Galaxy Foam. It was the perfect storm.

The hype train continued to chug forward when it was made public just how few pairs of this shoe were going to be available. People lost their f*cking minds. I vividly remember watching videos on my Blackberry Bold while I waited in line at Nike Town Toronto. Police helicopters, fights, riots. The sneaker community was in mass hysteria.

Never in my years of collecting – prior to and following this release – have I ever seen such insanity like that caused by these shoes. Sneakers were back, and they were back with a vengeance. The Galaxy Foam was not only an All-Star sneaker, it was the resurgence of an entire community and culture. I may write a story of what happened to me when I lined up for this release, although I feel like I’ve shared it dozens of times before.

When I call this shoe the greatest All-Star shoe of all time I’m not simply referring to the overall aesthetic, because that is subjective. But the significance of this shoe can not be overstated. It is a pivotal checkpoint in the timeline of sneaker culture, and the landscape of the footwear world hasn’t been the same since it’s release. One thing is undeniable – the Nike Foamposite One “Galaxy” is undoubtedly the greatest All-Star release of all time.